


Law of Proximity

by ShaneVansen



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-21
Updated: 2010-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-07 11:01:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShaneVansen/pseuds/ShaneVansen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All other things being equal, objects that are near to one another in space or time are perceived as belonging together as a unit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Law of Proximity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for angelqueen04, who requested "Sparky smut; in an unusual place without any mention of regs/rules/etc. on either person's part." Somehow, for a smut fic, this ended up with something like a plot. Go figure. Hope this is unusual enough for ya, hon!
> 
> Thanks to Elvinborn for keeping my occasional tendencies towards misplaced modifiers and over-dramaticism (is that a word?) in check, and for also being twelve when it comes to title options. :P
> 
> Written for LJ's jeficathon, and originally posted September 2006.

John resisted the urge to sigh as he made his way from the cave's opening to the main cavern, where Elizabeth was happily engaged in deciphering what appeared to be Ancient text carved into the smoothed-out cave walls. Tapping his earpiece, he found himself wishing he knew enough to help, or at least had brought along something to do. "Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, how's it going?"

"We found what looks like a data recorder." Judging by how quickly Rodney was speaking, John could easily tell he was excited about the discovery. "We took pictures of the writing on the column where we found it and a few other pillars that looked interesting. We're on our way back now."

"ETA?" John asked, leaning against the cavern's entrance as he watched Elizabeth working a short distance away. She was currently on her hands and knees, head and shoulders hidden beneath a man-made rock shelf that ran the circumference of the cave at about hip height. He let his gaze wander over the part of her he could see.

"Ten to fifteen minutes," came Rodney's voice, causing John to jerk and look away from Elizabeth as if he'd been caught staring at her ass.

"We'll meet you at the cave entrance. Sheppard out." Switching off the radio, he turned back Elizabeth. "You've got ten minutes to finish," he informed her.

She backed up enough that she wouldn't whack her head on the stone shelf as she shifted to her knees. Rolling her neck first, presumably to relieve tense muscles, she looked up at him. "Could you hold the flashlight for a minute? There seems to be writing on the underside of the shelf."

"Ten minutes," he reminded as he knelt at her side. She smiled at him brightly before shifting onto her back and sliding beneath the outcropping. John mimicked her position, lying on his back, shoulder against hers, head tilted in her direction and the flashlight pointed at the underside of the shelf. "Where do you want this?" he asked, playing the point of light randomly over their temporary ceiling.

Grasping his wrist, Elizabeth steadied his aim. "Here," she directed. "Just a couple of minutes."

Idly, John let his gaze wander over the faded alien script. Truth be told, the writing was so worn that he barely knew how anyone could tell it had been deliberately carved into the wall, let alone actually read it. But on their first trip, Teyla had discovered the writing and Rodney had identified it as resembling Ancient. One report to Elizabeth later, and they'd returned so she could have a first-hand look at the text.

Elizabeth shifted, jostling his shoulder and drawing his attention back to what they were doing. "Anything interesting?" he asked, surreptitiously glancing at his watch. It had only been three minutes.

"Not here," she admitted, rolling onto her side and propping herself up on one arm so she was looking down at him. "This section is too worn to be worthwhile."

"So we can go?"

Elizabeth smiled knowingly and he knew he'd been busted. "We can go," she agreed.

About to jump to his feet, John paused as a faint rumbling sound filtered into the cave. Before he could even open his mouth to ask Elizabeth what the sound was, the ground began to shake and debris began raining down on them from the domed ceiling. "Get down!" he yelled, rolling beneath the stone outcropping and on top of Elizabeth, covering her body with his own.

The screech of grinding and falling rock was so deafening that John could barely hear Elizabeth's shouts right by his ear or even his own grunt of pain when a large chunk of stone landed on his ankle. Though the entire incident was probably over in less than a minute, it seemed like hours had passed before the shaking calmed and the noise faded away.

The amount of dust produced by the crumbling rock left both of them trying to catch their breath between fits of dry, wracking coughs. Eventually the dust settled and they were able to breathe easier, though John's throat was scratchy and parched.

He pushed himself up on his arms above Elizabeth, automatically cataloguing his injuries: probable bruises forming along the backs of his legs, scraped palms, elbows, and knees from diving on top of Elizabeth, a gritty feeling in his throat and eyes, and an ankle trapped beneath rock, though he was still able to move his toes and there wasn't much pain. All in all, not nearly as bad as it could have been.

"Are you alright?" he rasped at the woman beneath him, studying her in the light of the flashlight that had managed to survive the cave-in. Her face was grey with dust and she was still clearing her throat every few seconds, but she'd stopped coughing. Though she looked strained, he didn't notice any signs of pain on her face.

"I think so," she answered hoarsely. "You?"

He nodded, shifting his weight to one arm so he could use the other hand to start searching through his pockets. "My foot's stuck under a rock. Can you move at all?"

Elizabeth began wriggling around and John lifted himself off her as much as he could. Against his trapped foot he felt movement and finally clued in to the fact that her leg was pressed tight against his own from the thigh down; she was restricted by the same pile of rocks that had surrounded his ankle.

"I can move everything but my left foot," she told him, moving the appendage back and forth so that it bumped into his.

Essentially, John was straddling her left leg, his trapped left foot limiting how far to the side he could move and the stone shelf which had saved them from the falling rock restricting his vertical movement. If need be, he would be able to support himself on his hands and knees to relieve Elizabeth of his weight, but the shards of rock and his scraped skin would make it extremely uncomfortable, if not downright painful.

His hand finally landed on the item he'd been searching for and he withdrew the slim package from the pocket of his vest. "Here," he said, pressing the chewing gum into Elizabeth's hand. "This will help your throat." He reached for his radio as she unwrapped the gum. "Rodney, Ronon, Teyla, come in."

The line spat only static in response, and John was just starting to worry the radio had been damaged when Teyla's voice broke through. "Colonel, we appear to have experienced a mild earthquake. Are you and Dr. Weir well?"

"_Mild_ earthquake?" John muttered, and Elizabeth smiled faintly. He tapped his radio. "Elizabeth and I are fine but part of the cave's ceiling has fallen in. We're trapped in here."

"You are uninjured?"

"We're not hurt, but our legs are trapped under some rocks. We can't move."

There were a few moments of silence, during which John accepted the piece of gum Elizabeth passed him. This time it was Ronon who responded. "Sheppard, Teyla and I are going to start digging you out. McKay's heading back to Atlantis to get equipment and another team."

John looked at Elizabeth. "I don't suppose you've been in contact with Earth recently and happened to have heard that the Daedalus left early and will be here in, say, the next hour?"

She shook her head, that faint smile back on her face. "The Daedalus is still more than a week away."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He toggled the radio again. "Understood. Keep us informed."

The line went dead and John settled himself in a more comfortable position. "So," he said brightly, giving Elizabeth an expectant look. "Wanna play cards?"

**

Four hours later, John was bored out of his mind.

It had been more than an hour since Elizabeth had gone back to examining the writing etched into the underside of the shelf, leaving him with nothing to do. Stuck the way he was, he couldn't even help her.

She shifted beneath him for what seemed like the millionth time and John blew out a frustrated breath. "Would you stay still?" he asked irritably, for what also felt like the millionth time, and tried to adjust his position so that he wasn't pressed so closely against her. He understood that she was probably lying on stones – though she hadn't complained at all – and that his added weight wasn't helping, but every time she moved—

"Sorry," she apologized, but given that she didn't even look away from her work John doubted her sincerity. He gritted his teeth and reached for the radio.

"How's it going?" he asked the team working outside.

Ronon's voice was strained when he answered, and John could hear voices and loud thunks in the background as rocks were moved. "We're making progress. The engineers figure it'll be another few hours." John made a face, catching from the corner of his eye Elizabeth's poor attempt at suppressing a smile. "How're you two holding up?"

"We're managing." John sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Let us know if anything changes. Sheppard out."

When he glanced at Elizabeth again, she was studying him closely. "You okay?" she asked with shrewd perceptiveness.

He forced a smile. "Yeah. Just bored." There was no point in mentioning what was really bothering him; it would only make things uncomfortable.

She continued to stare at him for a few moments more before nodding slowly and moving her attention back to the alien writing without comment. With nothing to do, John made himself relax and blanked his mind, forcing his body to rest. It was an ability he'd developed early in his career and honed over the years, and it served him well on missions when he needed to be both rested and alert.

He drifted for a while, not really focused on anything, although he was marginally aware of the faint sounds of the people working to get them free, and, closer – much closer – the scent and sound and feel of the woman lying half under him. But he'd been avoiding thinking about that fact for the better part of the afternoon, so he wasn't too bothered by that awareness. At least, not right then.

Until Elizabeth moved.

Again.

And his self-control finally snapped.

Body tensing, John reacted on automatic. His head jerked up so he could look down at her. At the same time, he adjusted his lower body against hers so there was no mistaking the effect her continued movement was having on him. "Elizabeth," he said, very carefully, voice strained, "I _really_ need you to stay still. Okay?"

Her eyes were huge in a face still pale with dust, her mouth forming an 'O'. Embarrassment only allowed him to meet her gaze for a few seconds and then he had to look away, moving as far from her as he could – which wasn't nearly far enough, given the circumstances.

Their little area of the cave was silent, except for the sounds of the rescue operation. Unlike most of their silences, however, which were usually companionable, this one was increasingly awkward. In his head, John began cursing himself for his lack of restraint.

A hand on his face stopped him mid-curse.

The palm against his cheek urged him to turn his head in her direction. He did so half reluctantly, part of him afraid of the expression he'd find on her face, part of him curious about her reaction.

Elizabeth's eyes were still wide, but instead of the obvious shock of only a minute earlier, he would now be hard-pressed to identify her expression. He was so caught up in trying to figure out what she was thinking that he only realized that she was leaning up half a second before she kissed him.

It took his brain another couple of seconds to suggest that he should respond and then he was kissing her back enthusiastically, his fingers tunnelling through her hair to hold her still as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. The hand on his cheek slid around to the back of his head, Elizabeth's nails scraping the skin at the base of his skull. The sensation left him shivering.

John broke the kiss, his lips travelling along her jawline and down her neck. Elizabeth's hands fisted almost painfully in his hair and she let out a little moan when he licked the hollow of her throat. "What are we doing?" she whispered. Her voice had a breathy quality that John had never heard from her before. He liked it a hell of a lot.

He nipped at the curve of her neck, one hand sliding over her breast, and her nipple hardened against his palm. "Think we should stop? Do you want me to stop?" he asked against her skin, and he noticed that he was kind of breathless too.

"God, no," she muttered, arching into his touch, and then she pulled his mouth back up to hers for another hungry kiss.

Their lower bodies were moving against each other in a way that left no doubt as to what either of them wanted. When Elizabeth's free leg came up to wrap high around his waist, the added pressure was enough to force John to break their kiss so he could gasp for breath.

As Elizabeth continued to rub against his thigh, John slipped his hand beneath her shirt, pushing it as far up as it would go. Ducking his head to capture her nipple was awkward, but he was rewarded with a quiet whimper from Elizabeth, her body shuddering beneath his, so he ignored the mild strain in his neck to continue flicking his tongue against her.

She began calling out, her words mostly unintelligible, though John caught his name more than once. He slid his hand beneath her, pulling her tighter against his body, and bit her nipple just a bit more forcefully. She went rigid beneath him, and John lifted his head just in time to muffle her cry of release with a kiss.

It was almost a minute later when her arms wrapped around his shoulders in a loose hug. Body tense with unfulfilled release, John propped himself up on one arm, using his other hand to brush her hair off her face. "Hey," he called softly, brain too far gone to provide anything more articulate.

Elizabeth looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. Then she pulled him down for a kiss that left him gasping for breath, pressing her thigh against him, and John let himself go.

He thrust against her leg, dropping his head to rest in the crook of her neck. Peripherally he was aware of Elizabeth's hands moving over his upper body, but her movements began to rival the sensations of his cock against her leg when she slid her hands beneath the waist of his pants and beyond, somehow knowing to stroke the area just beneath his balls. At the feel of her fingers against the sensitive skin, he couldn't hold back a sound of pleasure that was embarrassingly close to a whimper; and after a few more strokes his body couldn't take any more and he cried out against Elizabeth's shoulder as he came.

Her arms and leg were still wrapped around him when he regained the ability to be aware of anything besides his own body. John lifted his head tiredly. "Hey," he said eloquently, and she huffed a laugh.

"Hey," she repeated back, running her fingers through his hair, and he leaned into her touch contentedly. She smiled mischievously. "You still bored?"

He started laughing, burying his face in her shoulder once more and feeling and hearing her laugh beneath him.

**

The sound of running water eventually lulled John towards consciousness. Still half asleep, he reached for the woman he expected to be next to him before he realized that it was morning and the sound of water was probably Elizabeth getting ready for the day. Normally he'd be in the gym with Teyla by now, but Carson was making him stay off his injured ankle. Even Elizabeth, whose ankle had only been mildly bruised, had promised the doctor she'd only work half the day.

Their rescue had been somewhat anticlimactic, and between the limping, the onlookers, and the embarrassing need to hold his jacket over a rather prominent wet spot on the front of his pants, the walk back to the Stargate had been somewhat discomfiting. But his dinner invitation, issued during a brief moment alone in the infirmary, had been accepted with a smile. Dinner had led to an evening of teasing and flirting, which had led back to Elizabeth's room, and had ultimately led to him waking up in her bed this morning.

The water stopped and a few moments later Elizabeth appeared, pulling her jacket over what John was amused to see was one of her high-necked shirts, in spite of what promised to be a warm day.

She smiled at him as he sat up. "Morning," she greeted, crossing the room with barely a limp.

"Hi." He grasped her wrist and tugged until she leaned down far enough that he could kiss her. She tasted like toothpaste. "How are you?"

"I'm good." She squeezed his hand. "How's your ankle?"

It ached, actually, and was painfully stiff when he tried to move it. He kicked aside the sheets to take a look, not surprised to see the skin mottled purple and blue. "I think I'll be Atlantis-bound for the rest of the week."

"I'm sure we can find something for you to do around here."

Still unused to this side of her, John thought for a moment that he was imagining the suggestive tone of her voice and the glint in her eye, but the look on her face as she headed for the door left little doubt. "See you at lunch," she called over her shoulder, and then she was gone. John was left to ponder exactly how they could spend the afternoon, injuries be damned.

_\--end--_


End file.
